Well, it only took a year. A
little over a year ago, Apple announced iPhone
OS 3.0 and along with it came support for 3G
internet tethering. The only problem was that while many wireless
carriers around the world offered the tethering option to iPhone
users, AT&T bowed out due to the strain that the popular
smartphone was putting on its 3G network.

The new option, which appears in the
Network tab under Settings, gives users the ability to enable
tethering by dialing 611 or visiting http://www.att.com/mywireless" rel="nofollow.
We don't currently have any official word on pricing for the
tethering option, but there's a close to 100 percent guarantee that
the word "free" won't be anywhere in the fine print.

IPhone users who jailbreak can
currently get free, quick, and easy tethering on AT&T's network
using a program
like MyWi, but it's not officially sanctioned by Apple or AT&T.

I used a "tethered" mobile phone (N96) for a wile after I moved home, making the mistake of assuming that anywhere within a reasonably sized town would be able to get access to a broadband intenret connection. As it happened, my throttled 3G mobile broadband was better than anyhting I could get down any wire coming into my house for a while, until my exchange was upgraded. I never had to pay anything extra on top of my "unilited" internet deal tha I had with my contract.

Anyway, I digress, the "thethering" lark has bled over here into the UK, mostly thanks to Apple, and now it looks like it migh tbe seen as a good way to squeeze more money out of people here. From what I can tell, we get pretty good deals on our tarrifs in the UK, with allowances that don't take into acount paying to recieve texts or calls (is it really true? Do you guys ahve to pay to recieve texts and calls, as well as send them? Or at least take them into account fro your contract allowances?) but I can't help but see this "tethering" being the start of a new way for UK companies to approach contracts, which are becoming less and less attractive as time goes by, and we'll soon find ourselves in the same boat as you guys, "state side".